Tan's stance on integrating faith and counseling practice implies what?

• A. Faith should guide practice
• B. Faith should be kept separate from psychology
• C. Only faith, no psychology
• D. Only psychology, no faith

Answer: (A)

Integrating faith into counseling means using spiritual beliefs as a guiding resource in how problems are understood, what goals are set, and which interventions are chosen. When faith guides practice, the counselor views clients through a lens that considers meaning, purpose, and moral or existential questions alongside psychological factors. This approach recognizes that religion and spirituality can be important sources of strength, coping, and identity for many clients, and it invites these resources into the therapeutic process in a way that respects the client’s own beliefs and preferences.

This stance does not require forcing beliefs on clients or treating psychology as irrelevant; rather, it honors the role of faith as part of the client’s lived experience and uses it to support healing and growth when it aligns with the client’s values. In contrast, keeping faith entirely separate would miss these resources; relying only on faith would ignore empirical models of change; relying only on psychology would overlook meaningful spiritual dimensions.